Monday, September 13, 2010

Preliminary Syllabus for Magic & Medicine of Plants: Year long online herbal study

We've got the preliminary syllabus for the year long online herb course ready, and here it is!  Ifyou've been thinking about taking this course, now is the time to register! 
with Darcey Blue French and Sean Donahue November 1, 2010 - October 31, 2011
Plants are our ancestors and teachers.
Throughout history, people have looked to them for healing, guidance, and transformation.

In this year long course, herbalists Sean Donahue and Darcey Blue French will help you connect with the wisdom, magic, and living medicine of the plants growing around you.
Our proposed syllabus is posted below -- but is subject to change.
Tuition will be $75 a month (or $750 if you pay for the entire year in advance.) Students will also be expected to purchase herbs and books for the course.

Please register by October 25 2010- herbalists@brighidswellherbs.com


November


Origins: The Shamanic Roots of Herbalism

Plants as ancestors and teachers

How the plants speak to us

Shamanic journeying

Vitalism and the vital force: the world is alive

Finding a plant ally

Research project: Trace your ally through history and folklore

Samhain

The third harvest

Death and the healer

The underworld

Medicine making: Infusions — hot and cold, long and short

December

Awakening the heart

Anatomy of the spirit — Chinese, Ayurvedic, Celtic, Huna

Three centers of consciousness

Heart-centered consciousness

Plants from a heart-centered perspective

People from a heart-centered perspective

Treating the person, not the condition

Finding your plant ally’s unique personality

Yule

Stories of descent and return

Bringing messages back from the dreamtime

Evergreens

Medicine making: Decoctions

JANUARY

Energetics

Constitutions — Ayurvedic perspective

The body as ecosystem

Samuel Thomson and the Physiomedicalists

Energetics of herbs — hot and cold, wet and dry, stimulating and relaxing

Energetics of conditions — six tissue states

Herbal actions

Energetics of your ally and how your ally effects different constitutions and tissue states

Direction of cure: Moving from center to circumference

Medicine making: Baths and hydrotherapy

FEBRUARY

Nourishment

Primal nutrition

Insulin resistance and metabolism

Food allergies

Sleep

Exercise

Spiritual practice/meditation

Gut ecology

Nutritional deficiencies and supplementation

Conditions of the digestive system: tissue states and the herbs that match them

Imbolc

Brighid of the three fires

Nourishing the three fires

Medicine making: cooking with healing herbs

MARCH

Supporting the Immune System

Understanding the immune system

Nourishing the immune system

Immune modulation vs. immune stimulation

Vectors of transmission

Herbs for acute infection

Herbs for chronic infection

Fevers

Allergies, inflammation, and autoimmunity

Ostara

Rejuvenation

Rising sap, blood types, and Southern folk medicine

Seeds

Medicine making: Herbal vinegars

April

Paths of elimination

The myth of the “herbal detox”

Understanding “spring tonics”

The liver: functions, dysfunctions, and therapeutics

The kidneys: functions, dysfunctions, and therapeutics

Lymph and lymphatic herbs

Medicine making: The art and ethics of wildcrafting

Drying herbs

May

Mental and Emotional Health

The biology of stress

Nourishing the nervous and endocrine systems

Regulating the nervous and endocrine systems

Understanding and easing anxiety

Understanding and easing depression

Heartsickness and soul sickness

Sleep and insomnia

Beltane

Ecstasy vs.Fertility

Aphrodesiacs

Leaves

Medicine making: Tinctures and elixirs

June

Muscles and Bones

Nourishing the muscles, bones, and connective tissues

Herbs, nutrition, and muscular development

Acute injuries to muscles, bones, and connective tissues

Chronic problems of muscles, bones, and connective tissues

Midsummer

Elder, Hawthorn, and the Faery Realm

Flowers

Medicine making: Oils

July

Reproductive Health

Nourishing the reproductive system

Menstruation

Pregnancy

Contraception and fertility

Reproductive health for male bodied people

Menopause and Andropause

Sexual trauma and reproductive health

Medicine making: Salves

August

Circulation

The heart revisited

Hemoglobin and Chlorophyl

Nourishing the heart and blood vessels

Blood pressure

Stress and the heart

Peripheral circulation

Connecting the physical, emotional, and spiritual hearts

Medicine making: Flower essences

Lughnasadh

Honoring the sun

Wild nourishment

Fruits

September

Respiration

Breath

Nourishing and strengthening the respiratory system

Asthma

Acute respiratory infections

Chronic respiratory infections

Medicine making: smoking blends

Mabon

Harvest

Fall planting

Honoring and restoring our medicine places

Roots

October

What kind of herbalist are you?

Ethics for healers

Boundaries, protection, and clearing

Personal consultations on next steps on your path

Sharing of allies’ lessons

Medicine making: formulation

Samhain

The underworld journey revisited

Journeying for healing

Entheogens

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"The mother of us all, the oldest of us all, Hard, splendid as rock, Let the beauty you love, be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth"~ Rumi ~